I don't know what to say about Las Vegas. It surprised me to realise that this was my fourth time here. The first time I was not quite four years old so that doesn't really count. But after that I've been here in 2000, 2004 and now 2008 - every four years. I expect to be back here in 2012 then, to escape the London Olympics. The other thing I need to say is that Nevada is my 40th state so far, so only 10 more to go!

The hostel was okay. They promised free limo pick-up from the Greyhound bus station. It turned out to be a Mercedes. It was a bit old and had once been a very nice car. Still, it was a free ride instead of a taxi fare so I was still grateful. The hostel is a converted motel and that's obvious because it still looks like a motel. Imagine taking a standard motel, removing the double beds and putting two bunk beds in instead. That's all there was to it, but it meant one bathroom shared between four people, which is a better average than usual.

Because it was converted from a motel it didn't really have a very hostely feel to it. The common room was rooms 602 and 604 knocked through and, although there was an area you could buy food, some internet terminals and a massive rear-projection TV it wasn't a good place to meet fellow travellers.

I arrived on my first day in the late afternoon so, after doing some laundry, I decided to make the most of the evening and go out. I went downtown - this proved a good decision because I'd never been there before so it was something new. I went to the Fremont Street Experience, as my driver had recommended. It is a four city block length of Fremont Street that has been pedestrianised and a tunnel-like roof put over it. This four city block length of roof is actually a vastly enormous screen. From 8pm until midnight, every hour on the hour they put on a sound and light show on it.

I got there for the 9pm show and it was a Queen tribute. All the casinos lining Fremont Street turn off their exterior showy lights, the screen lights up and music blares out of the many speakers on the street. They played We Will Rock You followed by We Are The Champions and images flashed across the screen. Because of the size of the screen the images were huge and they made good use of the screen's size, like having lightning flash towards the middle from the two ends. It lasted about eight minutes and was amazing! I caught the 10pm one after dinner in a nearby casino and it was Don McLean's American Pie. This lasted about eight minutes as well and was very well received by the crowd. I got some photos from the Queen show that will give you an idea of what it's like.

As well as the overhead lightshow there were also a couple of live music acts on the street, a whole load of stalls selling stuff, several gift shops on the street, some casinos, and an opportunity to have your photo taken with two of the Chippendales, now performing live at the Rio.

Because I had no idea what I was going to do in this city because I've seen most of the casinos, I don't have the money to gamble properly and it's reaching 110 degrees outside. So on the first of my two full days I decided to catch up on some sleep. Then I got some late breakfast (it's more of a brunch at midday) from the cafe in the common room. Despite what I said above about it not being a good place to meet fellow travellers I did get talking to an English girl called Deborah. We went down the Strip together and popped in and out of a few places.

The second day I slept in again. I was on my own that day so my first task was to buy a Nevada state souvenir that isn't a Las Vegas souvenir. I suspected that would be quite hard because everyone has heard of Las Vegas but no-one cares about Nevada. So naturally I headed to The World's Largest Gift Shop. I found one next door to that place. That's right, I found nothing in the so-called world's largest gift shop but next door to it they had a choice of two. The bag that my purchase was put in said The World's Largest Gift Shop though so it was the same place after all.

In the evening I got a ticket to see Carrot Top live at the Luxor. He's a comedian, if you don't know, and uses a lot of props in his routine. It was a shame I couldn't get it at half price but the Tix4Tonight booth doesn't have that show, but it has a lot of the rest. He was very good. After it was over I did the one thing I have wanted to do since the first trip to Vegas that I can remember, back in 2000 - I went to see the free show out front of the Treasure Island casino-hotel. I had to wait until 11:30 and the place was packed with people and lots of kids.

I had been expecting some kind of battle between two ships, with one of them being sunk. I didn't expect what I saw. The show, which must have changed since I first heard of it, is now called Sirens of TI. "TI" being the trendy new name for the casino-hotel Treasure Island. It started with half a dozen or so scantily-clad women, the sirens, coming out onto the first ships and singing their siren song to draw in a single pirate from the second ship. Then the second ship comes looking for him and they have a battle of words - everything the pirate captain says is punctuated by a wave of his fist or sword; everything the chief siren says is punctuated by a gyration of her crotch. Then the sirens sing their powerful song and cause the pirate ship to sink. All the pirates swim over to the siren's ship and they dance and sing together. Then the crowd applauds and slowly goes home.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the sirens, but I had hoped for something to entertain the kid in me. And I don't think it's a very appropriate show for the real kids in the audience. It's like try-outs for one of the billion strip joints in the city.

The final day I was there my bus was due to leave at 6pm so I had a half-day in town. I wanted to go to the movies and see the new Batman film, which would kill a few hours. I knew the cinema was in GameWorks so I hopped on the bus and jumped off where I thought it was. But I was two blocks out and they're long blocks and it was hot. So I got there late and sweaty and actually I'd got the start time wrong so I was an hour late.

Over lunch in a food court I saw a TV advertising things to do on the Strip. I thought I would check out the cost of the Bodies exhibition which was being touted at the Mandalay Bay hotel. I was pretty close so I went over there. As soon as I entered the casino I saw an information desk and asked if it was there. The nice lady said that not only was it still being moved from its current home of the Tropicana but it would actually be next door in Luxor. So now the god of entertainment is ganging up with the god of travelling to thwart my efforts at seeing movies and exhibitions. But I stayed and had a nice chat with the lady who was very interested in my trip.

Overall I had an okay time in Vegas, but it's not a place I would go back to on my own. The Strip has also got a massive amount of construction going on on it and that did spoil it. Everywhere you look there are boards and scaffolding and sidewalks narrowed as new buildings, presumably casinos, are being built. I'm very glad I went downtown on the first evening because that was brilliant. At least I got my free non-limo ride to Greyhound for my bus out of town and on to Denver.